UMass Amherst Alumni Association

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Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Worcester Crowne Plaza
6:00 p.m.

Committee Members:  Ron Grasso, Sean LeBlanc, Kathleen Mitchell, Andy Hochberg, Anna Symington, Christine Lopes, Jackie Govoni, Mary Custard, Hal Lane, Kim Sherman

Absent:  Ron Spicer

Staff: Deb Masloski and Kevin Fleming

Guests: None

Call to Order:   The meeting convened at 6:02 p.m.

Minutes:

Motion:  Hal made a motion, seconded by Andy, to approve the March 11, 2008 Executive Committee Minutes.  The motion passed with 9 ayes and 1 abstention.

President’s Report:

Kathleen extended her appreciation to Kim Sherman, Kate Robert, and Deb Warnick for the recent Alumni Career Services event.  The panel was interesting, there was a good turnout, and the attendees were appreciative of the content.  She also highlighted several upcoming events: the Distinguished Alumni Awards on April 17, the Madeleine Kunin event on May 1, and an eight-week career services conference call group that will begin meeting in May.  The Madeleine Kunin event will have a private reception exclusively for Life Members prior to the actual event.

Kathleen also noted that the Chancellor’s Search Committee has yielded some phenomenal candidates.  The committee reconvenes on April 11 to determine the finalists and invite them for campus visits. 

Executive Director’s Report:

The paperwork to hire the search firm for the Executive Director’s position is in progress.  The vacant Assistant Director position will hopefully be filled within one to two weeks, and the search for the Career Services position should begin shortly.  Deb also noted that the NIT men’s basketball tournament yielded a fantastic turnout, both for the semi-finals and the finals. 

Committee Reports:

1. Alumni Clubs – None
   
   
2. Audit - The Audit Committee will be convening to discuss a whistleblower protection policy for the board of Directors.
3. Communications, Marketing, & Membership – The committee will be continuing their promotion with WGBY in Western Massachusetts and WGBH in Boston. 
   
   Sean noted that maroon membership numbers are suffering, and annual memberships are not increasing as he had hoped.  However, the renewal rates on annual membership are good, and compare favorably with the national average.  Sean believes that the staff has done a number of creative ideas to increase annual membership and has been working hard to promote it, but for some reason the program has not taken off.   The committee will be examining the structure of the annual membership program to see what will create the most appeal for alumni. 
   
   Sean did note that the Life Membership program is increasing very nicely.  Some of the success of the Life Member program has been due to special components of events specifically for Life Members.  The Madeline Kunin event had a separate reception for Life Members, and they received 5 new Life Memberships because of the event.  Additionally, the Alumni Association has a table at a “wines of Spain” event on campus, and we are advertising that Life Members can go for free on a first-come, first-served basis.  Jackie suggested a progressive life membership, where annual dues are applied towards a Life Membership (currently they are not).  She would love to be a Life Member, but cannot afford to be.
   
   
4. Finance & Investments:  Ron noted that, since we hired the new consultant, we are making money and doing better than the national average.
    
5. Governance:  None
   
   
6. Grants Review:  The committee will have another meeting this month.  There was some discussion about the 21st Century Leaders scholarship, organized by the Chancellor’s Office. 
   
   
7. Honors & Awards:  The Distinguished Alumni Awards will be held on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 12:00 p.m.  Hal encouraged all Executive Committee members to come early and help advocate to individuals at the State House on behalf of UMass Amherst.  Hal also asked if the staff could provide any speaking points on items we might want our alumni to advocate for. 
   The two Executive Committee members who served on this committee felt that the process was disorganized, the guidelines for reviewing these scholarships were unclear, and they did not feel very engaged in the process.  They believed that the evaluation of applications was too subjective, and needs more concrete and objective criteria in the future.
   
8. Nominating:  Voting will close on April 25, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. e.s.t.  The committee will meet to discuss modifications to the bylaws and will forward proposed changed to the Board for discussion at the May Board meeting.  Sean noted that he thought it was great that, out of 8 people on the ballot, only 1 was an incumbent.  He believes that this means we are involving a variety of different people.
   
   
9.  Programs & Services:  Mary noted that the committee has been on hold with Janine’s maternity leave.  They have, however, continued to plan the CCEBMS 40th Anniversary celebration.  The event was originally planned for May, but is now planned to coincide with Homecoming.  Mary also noted how much fun the NIT tournament was and how many alumni turned out for the event, and asked that the Alumni Association send a “thank you” letter  to Coach Ford for the team’s success this year.  She also asked that the Alumni Association send a congratulatory letter to Coach Calipari for his team’s success this year.  Finally, Mary expressed her hope that the Alumni Association would recognize all teams that got into the post-season in some way.
   
10. Volunteer Advocacy and Public Affairs:  The committee will host a reception for alumni staffers working at the state house on the morning prior to the Distinguished Alumni Awards. 

Old Business: A letter has been drafted inviting Governor Patrick to attend and speak at an Alumni Association event on campus regarding bio-initiatives at UMass Amherst.

New Business: Five years ago, the Boston Club organized a reception for the new Chancellor at the Hampshire House.  The event was a $100 per plate dinner, was top of the line, and was very popular.  Sean would like the Alumni Association to host a similar event when the new Chancellor arrives on campus.

Special Board Meeting  - The Executive Committee meeting was suspended at 6:59 for the Special Board Meeting.  Staff members were excused from the special board meeting and a separate set of minutes were taken in Executive Session. 

The Executive Committee meeting resumed at 8:43 p.m.

Adjournment  -  The meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.